Egil’s Saga Tells the Tale of Viking’s Wealth, Power, and Social Norms

As we take a deeper look at Viking and Medieval Scandinavia we find that it is frequently tied to the themes of killing and pillaging to allow for the Viking’s economy to remain prosperous and to maintain a high ranking within their social hierarchies. Egil’s Saga by Örnólfur Thorsson is able to portray these themes through its representations of the people Egil, his brother Thorolf, and their men meet and the consequences and motivations that are tied to these interactions. I will be contextualizing chapters 46 and 47 of Egil’s Saga and situating it in history to showcase its reliability as a historical source when it is placed in comparison it to that of scholarly texts including The Age of the Vikings by Anders Winroth and Feuding in Viking-Age Iceland’s Great Village by Jesse L. Byock. Through our contextualization of Egil’s Saga we will embark on a journey that allows us to better understand the violent nature of Vikings within this time period and fully grasp the meaning that power, wealth, and social pressure held within Viking society.

In chapter’s 46 and 47 of Egil’s Saga Egil and his brother Thorolf’s Viking raids are described in gruesome detail. Egil is an Icelandic farmer, Viking, and skald placing him as a usual Viking of his time period, he is also an extremely violent young man who rebels against the power of his royal adversaries. This is shown by the first few sentences within the reading from Egil’s Saga when he comes to blows with three men, “The men guarding the ship did not notice Egil until he was upon them. He killed one of them with a single blow. Another took to his heels and ran up a slope. Egil swung at him, chopping off his leg. The third leapt into the boat and pushed it out to sea, but Egil grabbed the moorings, pulled the boat back in and jumped into it. They did not exchange many blows before Egil killed him and threw him overboard.” (Thorsson 70). This excerpt from the passage exhibits the violence of Egil and Vikings alike, the gruesome killing of three men is referred to in such a nonchalant nature that the reader realizes just how common these actions were during this time period. Moving forward we illustrate the raiding of the coastal farm that happens later on in this reading. Here, following a raid and pillage Egil and his men are captured by a farmer and his family. Later that night Egil is able to free himself from his bonds, steal their captors' treasure, and head back to the ship. However, along the way, Egil becomes shameful, realizing he is behaving like that of a common thief, saying, “This journey is terrible and hardly suitable for a warrior. We have stolen the farmer’s money without his knowledge. We should never allow such shame to befall us.” (Thorsson 74). Egil decides to go back to his captors’ house, only to set it on fire and kill those who were inside and those who tried to escape. Returning to the ship with the booty, only this time as a hero. Because he had chosen to fight and win the battle, only now could he justly claiming the treasure as his own, no longer being considered a coward. These ideas arise from the customary nature of men raiding within Scandinavia, in order to win both riches and prestige. Raiding became a desirable occupation for a young man - like that of Egil and his brother. Even if sons were to inherit lands or riches from their predecessors, it was nearly impossible to maintain a prominent status unless one was to put their men or themselves at risk and raid. Raiding exponentially increased a man's stature in Viking society. If a Viking came back from raiding successfully he would have both wealth and fame which were the most important qualities needed to rise within the social hierarchy. This raiding and violent behavior is evident in scholarly texts from this time period, especially within The Age of Vikings by Anders Winroth one line from the book describing the Vikings usual behavior saying, “The Vikings “lay waste,” “raid,” “slaughter,” “ravage,” “wreak destruction,” and “devastate.” (Winroth 20). Here it is evident that Egil and his brother are not a far cry from actual Vikings in this time period. The book goes on to further explain the fear people during this time possessed in regards to the Vikings, “...books that contain the kind of prayer said by Christians afraid of becoming the Vikings’ next victims: “Save us, Lord, from the wild Northmen who lay waste to our country. They strangle the crowd of old men and of youth and of virgin boys. Repel from us all evil.” (Winroth 21). This quote further reiterates the reliability of Egil’s Saga as a historical source keeping with Viking society at the time. Every man, woman, and child were terrified of coming to blows with the Vikings, even Kings that resided over large lands would shake in their boots at the thought of Vikings coming to raid their coastal lands. Meanwhile the Vikings were afraid of nothing and no one, for example when Egil was prompted about raiding a large town in Denmark - one of the most powerful Scandinavian countries at the time - he so poetically said, “Let us make our drawn swords glitter, you who stain wolfs teeth with blood; now that the fish of the valleys thrive, let us perform brave deeds. Each man in this band will set off for Lund apace, there before sunset we will make noisy clamour of spears.” (Thorsson 75). This verse showcases how loud Egil’s words rang in the ears of his men, for directly following this they inflicted a heavy amount of casualties, plundered, and set fire to the town of Lund. The loyalty that Egil’s men possessed for him in this moment and throughout the entirety of the reading is reminiscent of a text we read earlier in the semester, The Battle of Maldon where Bryhtnoth and his men were willing to reject a peace offering that would save a considerable amount of human lives in order to preserve the role of the king and his lands. Further reiterating how important loyalty was within Viking society. Overall the contextualization of Egil’s Saga showcases its historical significance and reiterates the themes of killing and pillaging within Viking society in order to sustain their economy for the long winter months, and maintain their ranking in the social hierarchy through the wealth and power they gained from successful raiding.

Within the text Egil and Thorolf represent classic strong Viking men who show no remorse and take no prisoners. Their only goals are to raid any areas possible and gain as much power and wealth as one can. They both encounter numerous individuals within this reading, each representative of different raiding motivations and consequences for both them and those whom they meet. The first people that they encounter within the text are the Courlanders whom they extended a truce to for the night so that they may be able to lay offshore of their land, however once the truce was over their motivations were revealed and they began to plunder the areas they deemed most attractive. These individuals are representative of Vikings lack of trustworthiness and their deceitful ways, furthermore it portrays a sign of the times. Because things were so difficult in this era and wealth could only be acquired through raiding in the summer months, Vikings had to result to deceiving those who trusted them in order to gain the power and wealth they so desperately sought, as well as needed to survive and keep their economy prosperous. While Egil and Thorolf may have had no consequences from this encounter, the Courlanders certainly did, gaining the realization that one should never trust a Viking. The Courlanders misstep may have also led to long standing historical significance, that being, beware of the Norseman. The next encounter Egil faced was during the raid of the coastal farm that I contextualized earlier where Egil and his men were captured, wounded, and tied up by a separate sect of Courlanders including a wealthy farmer and his son. However shortly after, the Courlanders made the terrible mistake of waiting till morning to torture the men which led to dire consequences when Egil and his man managed to escape their bonds and stole their booty unbeknownst to them. Although once Egil and his men made it back to the woods with the treasure Egil’s true motivations were revealed, deciding that it was cowardly of them to raid the farmers without their knowledge and that he must go back to the farm to alert them in order for him to gain both recognition and feel as though he had earned this raid. So, Egil returns to the farm, sets it ablaze, and kills every last survivor. This interaction is representative of a sort of ‘Viking code’ that one abided by, Egil had to have those he raided know that he had done so in order for him to sustain his reputation and social standing within Viking society. This idea surrounding a social hierarchy within Viking culture is implicative of The List of Rig that we read earlier on in the semester. The List of Rig surrounds the idea of a social order, mentioning Viking heroes specifically, as an aristocrat of sorts. Helping to further reiterate the importance of a high social ranking. These expected social norms that Egil - and those mentioned within The List of Rig - follow are also reiterated within Jesse L. Byock’s scholarly text Feuding in Viking-Age Iceland’s Great Village when Byock states, “As a storytelling of crisis, the sagas explored success and failure, and in pointing to the obvious they reinforced social norms. It is not by chance that, amidst the blood letting, the sagas repeatedly focus on the prestige accorded to advocates...wealth is often institutionalized into power when individuals find ways of converting it into control over sectors of the economy.” (Byock 241). This passage from Byock’s text portrays how frequently success in raiding was reinforced as an expected social norm within Icelandic society as well as the desire for wealth in order to gain even more power within their economy. Byock’s text helps to further support Egil’s Saga as a reliable historical source to the Viking age by further reiterating the themes that the saga tries to drive home. Although I found these ideas of praising Vikings and their raiding to be quite contrasting to The Sermon of the Wolf, where civilian’s frequent sinning was causing them to be punished by God. While raiding may be praised in Egil’s Saga as well as Byock’s text, among others, The Sermon of the Wolf would find this behavior to be sinful and worthy of punishment. I find it to be interesting how these texts could be so strikingly different. Overall the representations of the Vikings and the people they meet as well as the motivations and consequences of their meetings, are presented in the text as a means to further show the historical significance of Egil’s saga and further reiterate the Viking’s need for wealth and power within their society.

We find that through dissecting Viking and Medieval Scandinavia more intensely the themes of killing and pillaging that are associated with it are used as means to sustain their economy and maintain a high social ranking. Egil’s Saga is able to portray these themes through its representations of the people Egil, Thorolf, and their men meet and the consequences and motivations that are tied to these interactions. In doing so, this saga is able to showcase its reliability as a historical source when it is placed in comparison to both The Age of the Vikings and Feuding in Viking-Age Iceland’s Great Village. Through our contextualization of Egil’s Saga we embarked on a journey that allowed us to better understand the violent nature of Vikings within this time period and fully grasp the meaning that power, wealth, and social pressure held within Viking society. Overall Egil’s Saga taught us a great deal about Viking society and the pressure that Viking’s were put under in order to persevere.

Cited Sources

Winroth, Anders. The Age of the Vikings. Princeton University Press, 2016.

Thorsson, Örnólfur, ed. 2000. The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection, pp. 71–75. New York: Penguin

Byock, Jesse L. Feuding in Viking-Age Iceland’s Great Village. Ashgate Publishing Co., 2003.

“Viking Raids.” Hurstwic, www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/society/text/raids.htm.